Sales of Polypore International Inc.’s lithium battery components — such as those made for electric cars at its Celgard division — jumped 50% last year. It would have been higher if Polypore could produce more of the components.

More capacity is on the way. The company has finished a $43 million expansion at Celgard’s Charlotte operation and has started on a second one pegged at $32 million that will be complete at year end.

Celgard makes separators for lithium batteries. The product is so specialized that customers must put new production through rigorous testing before accepting it. “In lithium, we talk about capacity ramping up one battery at a time,” Chief Executive Robert Toth said during the analyst call. So while the machinery and personnel are in place from the first expansion, ramping up production is not so immediate as turning on a switch, he said.

Scrubbers key to Duke rate hike

When Duke Energy Carolinas files for its proposed 2012 N.C. rate increase in a few months, one big addition to the rate base will be $583 million for environmental equipment at one of its Cliffside Steam Station units. The scrubber at Cliffside Unit 5 went online late last year. It completes a $5 billion scrubber program mandated by North Carolina’s Clean Smokestacks Act of 2001.

The act required utilities to build scrubbers to remove sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides from emissions at their largest coal plants. The upgrades were completed more than two years ahead of the state’s 2013 deadline.

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